A/N: I just got the KH: CoM manga, and I have to say I'm impressed. Nevertheless, when Larxene goes to bring Axel and Namine back into the picture, I had this little idea for an AU story where she'd actually caught Axel in mid-betrayal. So yeah. .:nervous laugh:. I do love Axel, but it seems like I'm out to hurt my favorite characters lately. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go read my Golden Sun fanfiction.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of Kingdom Hearts, although I want to get Sora's charm-necklace thingy...
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So… I guess this is it. I thought I could pull the strings of the Organization – it turns out I can't even pull myself loose from this mass of roses that pins me to the wall. Marluxia spared no expense in creating these; they're more thorns than roses, thorns that bury themselves into my skin and dig as deeply as possible, making every movement painful.
Using my Element doesn't work, either. I've tried. They only multiply faster, leaving a sickly-sweet smell of burned perfume that makes me want to throw up anything I've ever eaten. Larxene and Marluxia seem to take special delight in my agony, making sure that if I so much as turn my head, it feels as if I've gone a few rounds with Sephiroth with no healing items along.
It hurts.
And there they sit, plotting and watching me with smug little smirks on their faces. Marluxia, damned Flower Princess that he is, caresses his flowers from time to time and sings something softly after looking pointedly at me. I can feel the thorns growing sharper and harder then, but I bite my bottom lip and refuse to allow them the satisfaction of hearing me scream.
Larxene has a dagger in hand, now, advancing toward me as if she thinks that one puny little throwing dagger could hurt any more than the dagger-like thorns already burning their way through me. She looks me up and down – I'm higher than her, because Marluxia caught me in the middle of a jump when he twined the first roses around my arms – and laughs her lilting little laugh. Anyone who heard her in a normal setting might actually think she was a nice person. If they saw her now, they'd know why she's been aptly nicknamed the Savage Nymph. The look on her face tells me that if I think I'm in pain now, she hasn't even started yet.
The dagger in her hand starts to hum and crackle with electricity. While Fire and Thunder aren't exactly opposing elements, they can still do significant damage to one another. Of course, I can't use Fire, so I'm at the extreme disadvantage. If I just had one hand free –
She plunges the dagger into my chest, where my heart would be if I had one. Since I don't, it's not a vital strike, but it hurts like bloody hell. It's bleeding like bloody hell, too, as she wrenches the weapon around to widen the wound and then pulls it out and lets my life flow freely from the gaping hole in my chest. Marluxia does nothing but laugh and mention that his flowers are enjoying the taste of my blood.
I bet they are, too. I think those thorns have grown another inch. I glare at them and spit a mouthful of blood out so I can actually say something. What comes out isn't exactly what I planned; it's filled a good deal more with curses, but it gets the point across. I'm angry, I'm in pain – and worst, I'm completely helpless.
I'm dying.
I can tell, even now as the thorns close in tighter and Larxene suddenly has a handful of daggers ready. Everything I planned went awry from the start, when Larxene found me talking to Namine. The girl got free, I made sure of that – but by the time Marluxia waded into the fight, I knew that I'd lost more than just a battle.
After all, if they could order me to eliminate Vexen, they would certainly have no problem with taking me out of the picture. What was it Marluxia had said? "Rid us of our traitor"?
Well, it looks like I'm the traitor here. And it looks like they're going to get rid of me, permanently.
Roxas, you idiot, I'm blaming you for this. I know I shouldn't, since it's really not your fault, but nothing's been the same since you left. You thought nobody cared if you left, and I guess that's true.
I'm a Nobody, after all.
And I care.
I shouldn't even be able to, but I do.
I'm sorry…
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Larxene cleaned off her dagger, irritation showing plainly on her face as she scrubbed at the blood already crusting on the blade. "He's dead, Marluxia. You can call your stupid flowers off."
Sighing, the Graceful Assassin stood up and touched his flowers gently. They shivered and released Axel's bloody form, which he picked up by the hooded part of his jacket and examined. "A pity, isn't it? He didn't scream once."
"Tell me about it," Larxene grumbled, stashing the clean dagger back in her sleeve. "He wanted to, though… you could see it on his face. I just wish you'd given me more time to coax it out of him before making him bleed to death with your damn rose thorns!"
"Not that you helped with the bleeding at all, Larxene. That stab wound in his chest is enough to kill any normal man. I'm surprised he lived long enough to curse us out like that." Marluxia threw the redhead's body aside carelessly.
"I should have gone straight for his lungs," she returned snappily. "Of course, I thought I had more time to relish my job, but no!"
"What was he muttering about, just before he stopped breathing?" he asked, curious. Not that he really cared, but it was worth knowing in case he'd set a trap of some kind.
Larxene chuckled. "Roxas, that skinny little misfit. Going on about how he cared that he'd left, or something like that. I wasn't going to stick my face into his so I could hear his pitiful last words, to be honest."
"Completely understandable. Well, we have a job to finish, Larxene… let's finish it. Leave Axel here… I'm sure Zexion and Lexaeus will be around some time soon to clean up."
The Savage Nymph and the Graceful Assassin strode out purposefully, leaving behind the mangled body that had once belonged to the Flurry of Dancing Flames. They spared little thought for the man they had just murdered – after all, he had been a traitor, and they had no hearts with which to spare him a little pity.
What they hadn't noticed was that Axel, battered and torn as he was, had relaxed into a smile just before his death. His features, previously marked by hatred and burning anger, had softened into a gentle look as his best friend – his only friend – occupied his final thoughts.
Let's meet again in the next life, Roxas…
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A/N: There you have it. Keep in mind that I haven't finished KH2 yet, so I don't really know the extent of the friendship between Axel and Roxas. Please please PLEASE don't spoil it for me, if I've messed something up storyline-wise. This is AU after all.
Oh, and I have no idea how members of the Organization actually die. In the manga, they just kind of vanish, but that just didn't work for this fanfic. :sweatdrop:.
(and don't know how to make the accent over Namine's name, so please don't yell at me. .:hides:.)